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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Politics can be treacherous. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walked on evenriskier ground in a recent TV interview when she attempted a theological defenseof her support for abortion rights.Roman Catholic bishops consider her arguments on St. Augustine and free will so far out of line with church teaching that they have issued a steady stream of statements to correct her.The latest came Wednesday from Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik, who said Pelosi, D-Calif., "stepped out of her political role and completely misrepresented the teaching of the Catholic Church in regard to abortion."It has been a harsh week of rebuke for the Democratic congresswoman, a Catholic school graduate who repeatedly has expressed pride in and love for her religious heritage. Cardinals and archbishops in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Denver are among those who have criticized her remarks. Archbishop George Niederauer, in Pelosi's hometown of San Francisco, will take up the issue in the Sept. 5 edition of the archdiocesan newspaper, his spokesman said.Sunday, on NBC's "Meet the Press" program, Pelosi said "doctors of the church" have not been able to define when life begins.She also cited the role of individual conscience. "God has given us, each of us, a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions," she said.Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi, said in a statement defending her remarks that she "fully appreciates the sanctity of family" and based her views on conception on the "views of Saint Augustine, who said, 'The law does not provide that the act (abortion) pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation.'"

Those chilling words ... "lacks sensation" and yet a babies nervous system is fully formed within weeks of conception. And then, to intermingle theological specualtions on the soul from St Augustine, pull a switcharoo, and justify gruesome murder with St Augustine .. truly this is diabolical disorientation.

Even pseduo Christians (protestants, orthodox, Mormons) chide the Holy Church for Inquisitions and witch burnings .. but with Pelosi you can come to understand their necessity and utility.

I have been waiting for abortion (aka murder) to enter into this race and now it has. How characteristic is it that it comes from aposate Catholics.